Note: Review of Web Novel

I would describe Death March as a Slice of life novel of another world. Nothing much really happens from the main male character going to tea parties with nobles, to going on a desperate multi-day quest for the sacred ingredient, pickles. The side stories include the main character nonchalantly killing off demon lords and dragon gods, and the like. Of course while killing demon lords seems uneventful to the overpowered main character, side characters and the world itself become greatly affected by such "trivial" actions. This causes several events to unfold simultaneously, building up to some interesting situations throughout the story.

Premise: The main character gets transported to another world as an OP (overpowered) character. He has no distinctive quality other than being overly cautious and doesn't like pain, which contrasts greatly with the level of over-kill he is. Kind of like, although getting slashed with a sword would feel as bad as getting a paper cut, he still doesn't want a paper cut. I mean, would you? As a result, rather than spending time getting into battles, he becomes a full-time tourist of this world. As he slowly learns about the world through: food, crafting, skills, magic, trade, politics, religion, etc. the reader does too.

Story: Since this story is like a slice of life, there honestly really isn't much of an overarching story. There are some sub-stories that are interesting due to the "all-map" skill that the main character has. Basically, he can track what everyone is doing from a 3rd person perspective. (Think of tactics games such as Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, or Fire Emblem) As such, he also plays the role of strategist when confronting battles and problems on large scales. Other than the slice of life feeling of the story, this is my favorite aspect. The large-scale tactics are well done in my opinion. Hence an 8 for story despite the lacking overarching story.

Art: What can I say. It's a novel. There isn't much art? It seems decent to me though. Pochi is particularly cute in the art! nanodesu =w=)~

Character: While the main character has no personality, the side characters have very distinctive personalities that are quite easy to like. (Pochi and Tama are my favs. Can always use more Tamarin and Pochinium -- Intermission SS4 Volume 9 reference) While there honestly isn't much character growth (if any at all), since there are a lot of chapters from the side character's POV (point of view), sometimes the same event from multiple perspectives, the characters do give another depth the story. They are what drive home the story's charm. At least for me, some of my favorite chapters are from a side character's POV.

Enjoyment: Due to its light-hearted nature, this story is very relaxing to read, and very easy to enjoy. I'm an avid reader of transported-to-another-world type novels, and I would rank this one quite up there due to its unique perspective on the genre. Other novels that I have read or am still reading, and like (for reference) include: Cook of the Mercenary Corp, Mushoku Tensei, History’s Number 1 Founder, Transcending the Nine Heavens, Crossing to the Future it’s Not Easy to Be a Man, Kenkyo Kenjitsu o Motto ni Ikite Orimasu.

One other thing to address: Right, there is technically a harem. But honestly, it's closer to a teacher taking their students on a field trip. The main character isn't interested in them, and the attempts of the harem to advance towards the main character at a certain point becomes more jokingly, rather than with seriousness. Or at least that is how it's portrayed. As a novel of its genre, it's rather absent of excessive sexual comments. Which is a nice change of pace.

Conclusion: Slice of life style stories aren't for everyone as they are slow paced. Especially with the lacking overarching story, if you are looking for something high powered, this is definitely not the story for you. For the casual-type story reader, this would be of more interest.

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Skip this novel. Seriously; go read Log Horizon, Mushoku Tensei or Tate no yuusha instead. This one is just a bad, sad take on the virtual MMORPG/ rebirth in a new world genre. Slight SPOILERS ahead.

If I had to pick the one thing that makes this novel a good choice for garden manure, it would be that the author seems to be too lazy to flesh out the world and the characters himself. Upon checking his page, I saw that this was his only publication according to MAL. In this case I can only hope he matures as a writer in his next attempt. Everything just falls into place in this novel like a jigsaw puzzle because it is expected that it would. The game system is weird and intrusive, rewarding the character for doing anything other than simply breathing. The guy is automatically one of the most powerful people there. There isn't even some power to master or some trial to overcome. The guy just is all-powerful. He takes down a dragon God in the second chapter and becomes an extremely overpowered guy the very instant he wakes up. We learn next to nothing about the city, but it's all fine because there is nothing here we need not expect. There are slaves (there always are); there is magic (to be fair, there is a system involved but its not well-explained) and there are demons (how else can the OP MC do anything)
Most of the time, I found myself filling in for the author from other, better series. It wasn't even that funny.

Next, onto characters. I'm going to take the unconventional route and start with the women in this novel. Never have I felt more sorry for characters in a fictional world. Most of the women are cute, big-breasted (obviously) and eager to talk but sadly unavailable. The women who are available are either lolis or flat-chested or both. Would it have hurt to make some sort of well-defined character? I still don't know anything about the personalities of any of the female characters. I'm not even too sure about the female knight in the second chapter because she was always far too shy. I couldn't even properly empathize with Arisa's story in the third chapter. There's too many vague factors, we don't see Arisa work hard for her country once and the ordinary LN style narration did not help. The MC is detestable. At one point, he didn't land the killing blow on a demon in the city and the author brushed it off by saying something to the effect of "Well, I couldn't really do that, you know?" I get it. Modern men are mostly not used to killing and bloodshed and would be hesitant to kill something, even a confirmed demon. However, the author should not be allowed to explain this away so easily. Put some weight behind the words for god's sake. This is just a rip-off of any other novel in the genre with none of the emotions or strong characters. There is nothing that makes me like this character or respect him. On the contrary, I constantly wished this was a joke and the real MC would appear sometime later.

The art in this work was pretty average and expected of the LN I'd say. Nothing unusual or worthy of praise.

I know I haven't read a lot of the LN; just a little over a volume really. However, I have never been so eager to drop one. Some of the commenters on the website found it enjoyable. If so, I'd like someone to enlighten me about it.

FINAL SCORE: Your princess is in another castle/10.

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